Mary Kenny“We should empty our minds of fears, hates, insecurities, regrets”, writes Mary Kenny
It is said that the greatest influence on Donald Trump’s early life – and his first hero – was the pastor Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote the well-known self-help book The Power of Positive Thinking (first published in 1952).
This tome suggests that people can overcome their doubts, insecurities and feelings of inferiority by reinforcing “positive thinking”, bolstered by faith.
I’ve been reading this book which has so influenced the next President of the US, and I quite see where it would have influenced him.
Peale writes: “Fill your mind with faith,” quoting Matthew’s Gospel: “If ye have faith…nothing shall be impossible to you.” He extends religious faith, too, to faith in oneself, in one’s ability to overcome difficulties and succeed in life. “Attitudes are more important than facts,” he states. “Draw out negative attitudes…affirm and reaffirm positive attitudes…Fill your mind with faith, confidence and security.”
He instructs a troubled man to count his blessings: the man has family, friends, faith and health – and he “lives in the United States, the greatest country in the world”. You can see how that resonated with the young Donald Trump.
Peale often quotes the Bible as a source of peace and even energy. “Religion is thought-discipline and contact with Divine Energy.” Great minds, he says, are always in touch with the Infinite.
Each day, we should practise a period of silence. We should empty our minds of fears, hates, insecurities, regrets. (Although, on the campaign trail, it would seem that Mr Trump did not always empty his mind of hatred.)
Fraud
Some psychiatrists regard Peale as a fraud, and he has been criticised also by fellow Protestant clerics. Yet it may be that his best-selling book has helped individuals to ‘cast off’ the negative thoughts which can be such a source of anxiety. He encourages self-confidence and self-affirmation – and regular ‘prayer power’. And I can see that such encouragement can be cheering and uplifting.
Sometimes, religious formation can veer towards the gloomy, the ‘fallen’ aspect of human nature, and the heightened awareness of pain and suffering (which Peale does not deny). We are taught to be humble, and to feel contrition for our sins. So it can be refreshing to be told that you shouldn’t be “awestruck by others”, and that God will help you to feel confident, fulfilled and secure, and to have peaceful, contented and happy attitudes. Stop fretting and fuming, says Donald Trump’s favourite preacher: “This is the day the Lord has made” – be glad of it.
He even quotes St Teresa of Avila: “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God.” Another influence on the 45th President?
A royal favourite
Many TV viewers people in Ireland are following The Crown – the personal stories around the reign of Elizabeth II, made by Netflix. I don’t have Netflix, so I’ll just have to wait for the box set, although I suspect that a lot of the material is already pretty familiar.
But one of the sweetest little archive reports about Elizabeth and her late sister Margaret released this year was that, as young girls, they were great fans of the Lancashire singer George Formby.
They giggled over his harmlessly saucey song When I’m Cleaning Windows, and sung along to his I’m Leaning on a Lamp Post (on the corner of a street in case a certain little lady passes by…).
Fan base
Back in the 1950s, George Formby had a great fan base in Ireland; a certain pride was taken in Formby, because he was known to be a Catholic, which then seemed unusual among popular English entertainers. Formby also had a strong social conscience, and supported many causes involving workers’ rights.
In his delightful history of Dublin’s Theatre Royal (Showtime at the Royal) Thomas Myler reveals that Formby’s wife and business manager, Beryl, was a very formidable woman who bossed and bullied him, controlled the finances, and refused to let him drink on his own in a pub or with male friends.
Although he was sometimes very unhappy, he wouldn’t divorce her because he was a devout Catholic. She died, in 1960, and subsequently Formby met a schoolteacher he hoped to marry, but just two days before the wedding, he died suddenly.
His cheerful voice can still be heard via the Internet: Queen Elizabeth probably still has his original records.
The joy in small things
A friend from Italy came to stay overnight, and the next morning she thanked me for providing “the most fabulous invention ever”. I had equipped the bed with a hot-water-bottle – something she had never before experienced.
The humble hot-water-bottle is indeed a great invention: warming, comforting, healthy and entirely ecological. The latest ones even remain reasonably warm all night. An example of the joy in small things.